Diabetes Awareness Month

by jmaloni

Wed, Nov 23rd 2011 08:55 am

Debra Hoffman, registered dietician and certified diabetes educator at Mount St. Mary's Hospital and Health Center, shows the "healthy plate" she uses in diabetes classes to Eileen Arway, home medical equipment, respiratory and diabetic shoe consultant at Health System Services in Wheatfield. A diabetes awareness program was held at the Wheatfield business on Nov. 19.

by Susan Mikula Campbell

Before overfilling that plate with fat-laden, high-calorie foods
this holiday season, consider this: Experts say not only are Americans getting
fatter, but the numbers of those who develop diabetes is growing significantly,
not only in adults, but in children as well.

Dr. Charles Rice and Debra Hoffman, both from Mount St. Mary's
Hospital and Health Center, were guest speakers last weekend at a Diabetes
Awareness Day held at Health System Services on Williams Road in Wheatfield.
Rice is medical director of the Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric
Medicine, and Hoffman is a registered dietician and certified diabetes
educator.

"A 50-year-old with diabetes can expect to live 8.5 fewer years on
average than a 50-year-old without diabetes," Rice said.

Most of the food we eat is broken down into a sugar called
glucose, used by the body for energy. Insulin is a hormone that puts this sugar
in your blood cells. With diabetes, the body can't move the sugar to the cells
and the sugar builds up in the blood stream.

About 90 percent of people who have diabetes have type 2 diabetes.
They are most often older and overweight. Their body either doesn't make enough
insulin or the insulin doesn't work well.

Rice pointed out that, in 1958, about 2 million Americans, or 0.93
percent, had diabetes. By 2009, that number had grown to 21 million, or 6.8
percent. By 2034, we can expect that number to grow to 44 million, unless some
changes are made.

How to make a difference in those numbers? Rice and Hoffman
advised exercise, weight control and being more selective of what you eat.

Exercise should be done regularly and be something that makes the
heart pump harder. It will help make your body more receptive to insulin,
Hoffman said.

"The more you eat, the fatter you get, the greater the risk ...
you're not taking care of yourself," Rice said.

"The closer you get to a vegetarian diet, the better off you will
be," Hoffman said.

She displayed a plate with a small serving of starch, a small
serving of meat and two servings of vegetables.

"Stop eating the stuff in the packages," Rice advised.

Fiber fills you up and attaches to carbohydrates to limit the
sugar that gets to your gut, but the amount of processing affects fiber's
usefulness. Consider that regular or "scotch" oatmeal and instant oatmeal have
equal amounts of fiber and sugar, but the instant oatmeal is finely ground,
which lets more sugar get to the bloodstream, Rice said.

The more sugar you eat, the more insulin is produced, the heavier
you get, and your body starts to develop insulin resistance. Over time, if you
keep abusing the system, you develop diabetes, which can lead to complications,
including heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure or loss of feet or
legs.

A diagnosis of diabetes can be frightening, but Hoffman pointed
out that proper medications and lifestyle changes can make a difference. "You
can live a long and healthy life with diabetes that's controlled," she said.

"In 2007, it cost $218 billion to treat diabetes and its
complications," Rice said. "That's over a third of our health care budget. Just
imagine if we could get control of diabetes."

Those who attended Diabetes Awareness Day at Health System
Services were enthusiastic about what they learned and the literature and
samples they were given.

Wheatfield resident Joyce Albrecht said she attended the event
after reading about it in the Tribune.

"I don't know that much about diabetes," she admitted, adding that
she had some questions she probably should have asked her doctor, but didn't.
In a less hurried environment, she felt she could get more questions answered,
such as the workings of her new diabetes blood meter.

Bob Minicucci, president of Health System Services, said his
company is looking at possible topics for another free health workshop, which
probably will be scheduled in February or March.

The company provides home medical assistance supplies, home oxygen
and C-Pap equipment. A certified mastectomy fitter has just been added to the
staff. The company not only helps patients get the supplies they need, but
makes sure they get any insurance coverage to which they are entitled, said
Doug Mooradian, director of marketing and public relations.